Archer kept silent, either giving a nod or nothing at all, but not disagreeing.
"Do you know where the ruby caves are?" I asked.
"I don't."
"So they resorted to murder for greed. They wanted the rubies all to themselves."
"They're far beyond greed."He gave a bitter laugh, a sound so unlike his usual good nature that it splintered down my spine. "They're sadistic monsters. One of us did know where the mines were…but now he's gone. Missing."
But not dead. Or at least Archer wasn't saying he was. Tortured, then? I was afraid to ask. And Grady? Surely, this explained some of his issues too. The surly attitude and maybe even the limp. My mouth soured, and an impossible knot tied itself into my gut.
"If they're already in the forest, then why do they need more moonshine?” I asked. “Unless there are more people living in the Crimson Forest?"
"No, it’s to keep anyone else who might be looking for the ruby caves out."
"And the guy who wants to steal my moonshine…" I winced, feeling like I'd just been punched in the chest. "Maybe he wants to be Faust’s supplier. He's moving in on my baba's territory in much the same way those people moved in on yours in the Crimson Forest."
Archer ground his heel into the floor, rolling what sounded like dirt or sand into the wood. "That about sums up my thinking as well."
"I swear I had no idea," I blurted. “If I had, I would’ve confronted my baba.”
And he would’ve laughed bitterly in my face.
"I know,” he said. “But you're still going to deliver that package, aren't you?"
I sank my eyes closed and deflated. That was our only source of money. My baba, whether he was alive or not, had one skill, and making the moonshine was it. And I… Well, I could hunt when there were wilds, and I could learn, neither of which would help to keep us all alive all winter. I didn't know what else to do. It was either my family's lives or another's who happened to stumble into the forest, and if I had to choose…
He must've read my answer all over my face because he rose and crossed to the door swiftly, like he couldn't wait to get away from me. "That's what I thought."
The door shut with too much force and shook out the tears from my eyes.
I didn't blame him for being angry with me. But what he didn't know was that I had been poisoned, too, by the very thing he didn't want me to deliver, the thing hidden underneath my pillow. Only instead of a group of murderous ruby fanatics, it was my own mother.
Chapter 6
“Aika?”
I stirred at the sound of Archer’s voice, sensing that he sat on the edge of my bed from the heat radiating off of his body. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
It was all I’d thought about between fitful bursts of sleep, how much he’d lost, due in no small part to me, and the weight was enough to make me feel like I couldn’t breathe. He had every right to hate me—for both what my baba had sold, and what I still planned to do with it—but that thought alone made it all so much worse. He was good and kind and didn’t deserve to be hurt like this.
“I’m not mad at you.” He sighed as he flipped a lock of my hair over my shoulder, his fingertips lingering on my flannel-covered arm to draw lazy circles.
I became aware of each of them, the strength and heat behind the touch, and suddenly I wondered what it would feel like on my bare skin. My body warmed at the thought, and an unexpected tingle ran down my thighs.
“It’s a lot to take in, but I don’t blame you,” he said. “You didn’t kill my family.”
“I’m sorry. I really am, for all of it. If there was another way short of robbery to get money, I would do that instead of helping these ruby fanatics murder just to keep the forest for themselves.” Feeling like that wasn’t enough of an apology, like it would never be enough, I reached for his hand on my arm and pulled it to my lips. His hand dwarfed mine, his skin rough and hard, and I wrapped his fingers in mine before I pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Archer.”
He loosed a breath, a ragged, hot burst that fanned my cheek. He was sitting so close that his nearness galloped my heartbeat faster. “It’s nothing.”
“Not to me, it isn’t.” I threaded my fingers between his. He felt so good that I wanted to keep him here. And touch him. I didn’t know where this was coming from, if it was him or me or this moment, but he made me feel…almost greedy with need when I’d never felt like that before.
My skin burned. My chest pushed against his forearm with every shallow, uneven breath.
“Aika…” He slid his hand free from mine to cup my cheek. His thumb trailed just below my bottom lip and pressed down to part my lips.
I lay there speechless, stunned, because no one had ever touched me like this or said my name like it was worth saying again and again.
